A small Berkeley landlord pays $2644 per tenant for their civic services per year.

A corporate Berkeley landlord pays $40 for each tenant’s civic services per year.

The corporation charges Cal Students much more in rent than the small landlord. Each student at the corporate-owned Enclave pays $1550 per month per bed for their housing. The small landlord offers beds for $715 per month.

Unlawful parcel tax discounts given to the corporation by the City of Berkeley cause this discrepancy, and result in an unsustainable short-funding of civic services. Parcel tax discounts are only approved by voters for low-income senior citizen homeowners, not wealthy corporations.

One of the condo-owners in the old Masonic Lodge on Colusa in Berkeley

has been the victim of excess parcel tax charges by the City of Berkeley since 2003, when the condo was built and sold. The condo has less than 1000 ft2, but has been charged for over 4000 ft2 for 20 years! The homeowner has been paying 4x their legal share for the local schools, parks, fire and other civic services. All are costly assessments listed on the right side of the property tax bill under Fixed Charges – 26 various taxes. It would behoove astute taxpayers to investigate and question the charges.

The City of Berkeley has been making a profit $50K + off the blissful ignorance of this homeowner. The City of Berkeley needs to use the readily available public square footage record to impose taxes, so that this governmental crime can end once and for all. (The condo connected to the for sale sign is undercharged by about half)

In Berkeley, 9 parcel taxes pay for the City’s schools, teachers, school buildings, libraries, parks, and the City’s fire/emergency response.

Without voter approval, the City imposes tax on average square footage of condos in a building, not actual square footage. In this manner, some condo owners pay for much less square footage than they have. Other condo owners pay for more than their fair share on their property tax bill each year.

In this condo complex, last year Unit L sold. It has 2570 ft2. Unit F is now for sale and has 1461 ft2. Unit B and C have 1147 ft2.

Unit L should pay parcel taxes of $3593 per year. Unit F should pay $2041 per year. Unit B and C should pay parcel taxes of $1604 per year. Instead, each of the 11 condos pays $2272 per year.

Each condo pays for 1625 ft2. Voters did not approve this unfair tax assessment. State law prohibits unfair tax assessments. Condo buyers should demand a tax correction before they purchase.

The City of Berkeley may charge you extra parcel taxes to live in South or West Berkeley, not North or East Berkeley. These overages are often not disclosed to buyers

Homes for sale or recently sold: 1334 Kains, 2226 Curtis and 1744 McGee are charged double parcel taxes because of unfinished basement, unusable as living space as one cannot walk upright. Voters approved parcel taxes for schools, libraries, parks, fire safety and EMT on dwelling space, not non-dwelling space. These long-term overcharges have punished South and West Berkeley homeowners with inequitable taxation for decades.

Homes for sale at 850 Creston, 1516 Olympus and 570 Woodmont have basements, and/or permitted additions, which do not incur parcel tax charges. This awards tax savings to Berkeley Hills homeowners. The new owner will continue to enjoy the escaped taxes for schools, libraries and parks, because Prop 13 reassessment does not apply to parcel taxes.

West Berkeley	Dwelling Area	Yearly Parcel Taxes	25 year Cumulative
1334 Kains	1449 ft2	$3,434	$43,013
2226 Curtis	1248 ft2	$3,612	$45,324
1744 McGee	1236 ft2	$3,087	$38,669
East Berkeley
850 Creston	2414 ft2	$2,066	$25,884
1516 Olympus	2682 ft2	$2,796	$35,026
570 Woodmont	2663 ft2	$1,749	$22,014

If you buy this trilevel home for sale in Berkeley hills, you’ll get $2000/yr in parcel tax discounts. The home is 2665 ft2 according to the realtor, but is only charged Berkeley’s dwelling-square-footage-based taxes for 1250 ft2, only one of its three levels. The permitted 1450 ft2 living space plus storage basement addition in 1979 were not captured by Berkeley Finance, so are entirely untaxed!

However, in South Berkeley you’ll have to pay extra for a lower-ceilinged storage basement, shown in the following photo, even though you can’t walk upright in this dank space. Higher parcel taxes are common in South Berkeley for this reason. So, here on Ashby Ave. the unwitting buyer will pay more for schools, library, parks, fire department, etc. than on Woodmont in the hills!

The home for sale on Peralta has been charged incorrectly for years. The County Public Record lists the home as 973 ft2. Garage space is exempt per city ordinance. The home has no basement or crawlspace, which space the City sometimes taxes.

The City charges the homeowner the 9 parcel taxes based on 2417 ft2, even though the property card (see above image) on file with the City only lists the home as having 1008 ft2, (they charge a little more for a porch at 1/2 rate). This 1409 ft2 of phantom dwelling space will cost the buyer over $2000 a year extra in bogus charges when they receive their first tax bill.

You can calculate how much dwelling space you are taxed for just like we did here (in red) by dividing the SCHL ED BSEP tax on your own tax bill by 0.4162.

1175 Grizzly Peak escapes $1000 in tax because 2017 permitted dwelling addition is not taxed.

938 Cragmont escapes $1100 each year in parcel tax because documented addition hasn’t been recognized by the tax man for decades.

571 Vistamont avoids $900 each year in parcel taxes because of untaxed in-law or guest quarters and office studio, which are dwelling space.

1002 Grizzly Peak escapes parcel taxes on finished, full height basement and art studio even though both are documented on the property’s public record.

1645 Virginia avoids $500 in tax because ADU has been escaping parcel taxes for decades.

1167 Grizzly’s craft room and workshop, which one can easily walk upright in, are not taxed.

BUT, in South Berkeley, 1532 Bancroft pays $900 extra in tax because 3′ tall crawlspaces are included in dwelling space! The South Berkeley home with less dwelling space, pays MORE parcel tax than the larger homes on Virginia and Vistamont due to the City of Berkeley’s discriminatory enforcement of tax. The new South Berkeley owner will be unaware of the defect, as there is no disclosure of the tax overages.

A happy buyer of the home at 683 Vincente Ave in Berkeley will save about $1600 every year on Berkeley’s costly parcel taxes, because the home’s “dwelling spaces” are not all taxed. These taxes pay for services residents use like schools, parks, libraries and the Fire Dept. They are unrelated to assessed value and Prop 13. The home with more dwelling space pays a lower parcel tax bill

683 Vincente Ave, Berkeley, CA 94707 | MLS #40989702 | Zillow

This North Berkeley home’s finished upstairs rooms are not taxed, and the home’s basement, where the laundry is located and where one can walk upright, are not taxed. So, the home is only charged tax for 1469 ft2, for parcel taxes of: $3578

A home in South Berkeley, like 808 Allston, is taxed for all of the unfinished spaces, lower than 6 ft. in height, beneath the dwelling unit. The total parcel tax bill for this: $4914

The owners of this home added this 2nd story with permits in 2005. The 2nd story is 532 ft2.

They also finished a garage with sheetrock, electricity for a studio office. Escaping taxes makes it easier to be a fervent advocate of tax increases!

This 702ft2 extra was never captured for the City’s parcel taxes. Berkeley tax measures passed by voters are to be imposed for dwelling square footage. Nor was the assessed value adjusted.

This slip up by the City Finance Department cost the City’s taxpayers $10,014 in parcel taxes since 2005. In 2021, the County Assessor billed the homeowner for escaped ad valorem property taxes for the $53K addition, but only for the past 4 years.

There are hundreds of homes/multi-family buildings escaping tax, but corrections like this are rare. As of the October 2021 billing, the parcel taxes have not yet been corrected.

The mayor pulled Ben Bartlett’s Tax Equity Item from the Feb. 23 Council Agenda.

See our presentation made to the City Council in November.